January continues

Went skiing for the first time ever today. Had worked out in the gym with a friend on Thursday, and my shoulders were (and are) killing me. Now my left knee is sore too. Those issues aside, however, skiing was amazing. It was a gorgeous day, and after a few runs on the bunny hill I was able to ski pretty decently (in my opinion) without too many falls. I did attempt the biggest hill on the mountain, which in retrospect was a mistake, because I couldn't slow myself down effectively and so went down a fairly steep slope going extremely fast. Suffice it to say, that fall hurt a little. Still, by the end of the day I was skiing without falling and I will go again. The mountain where we went, Titcomb (heh heh heh) only charges $18 for a day pass and $18 more for equipment rental, so to go once every month or so isn't extremely prohibitive. It was also not especially crowded. A good day, and a skill acquired. Hoorah!

Winter Fun

With a full foot of snow on the ground (it just tonight became perfect packing snow, too), the radiator in my room quit. No heat all weekend, but luckily the physical plant sent a guy over when I called, and now my room is a comfortable 80 degrees. There's no balance here.

Went snowshoeing on Sunday, and will be going again next Sunday. It's a great way to take advantage of the snow, and a lot of fun to boot. On Sunday the temp was below ten; it's warmed up since then (actually, it's above freezing as I type this), but the cold should set in by Thursday or Friday. At least I've got a working radiator now.

In other news related to me, the department production of Much Ado About Nothing is progressing nicely; I have the role of Don Pedro, played by Denzel Washington in the Kenneth Branagh version of the play. The Branagh version, incidentally, is fantastic, and deserves a viewing.

Jim Rice is in the Hall of Fame; this almost makes up for the Giants' loss in the playoffs, but it was tough to see another team go down in the second round of playoffs. Hopefully the Red Sox will have a good season; the lineup and pitching rotation should combine to produce lots of wins. Hopefully.

Anyway, just a quick update. More when I'm bored at 2 AM again.

First day of classes

And once more, I actually follow up a title with a related blog post. See, much as I hate to acknowledge it, today was really the first day of regular classes since the beginning of December. My schedule is horrendous on certain days of the week: Mondays are a solid block, nine to six. Tuesdays have two classes, at nine and then again at noon, and work at the bookstore in the afternoon. Wednesdays are solid nine to four. Thursdays are completely free, but I'll be working in the bookstore pretty much all afternoon until chorale at four. Fridays are nine to one, and then bookstore after lunch. Today was slightly improved, as there was no lab to tie up my lunch hour.

What are these classes, you ask? Well, even if you weren't asking, I'll tell you anyway. They're remarkably similar to those I took last semester: biology, chemistry, Italian, and multi-variable calculus. Buckets and buckets of fun, indeed. Tomorrow's looking up, though, something like four packages should be arriving in the mail. One of those should bear a Giants logo, but that's not headed for my mailbox. No, that's headed straight to the one who foolishly bet against the Giants and is now going to wear a hat commemorating the Superbowl victory for the next month or so.

Although classes partially blocked my enjoyment of this, today was just about the first real packing snow that's fallen this winter. A snowball fight is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon...yes, it is scheduled...otherwise people can't be there. I personally vote for spontaneous, mostly because I can't resist pegging people in the back on the way to the dining hall. It's things like that that enamor me to people...anyway, to bed. I have to be up and ready to work at the bookstore at eight, and that translates to bed now. Although I really don't think I'll get to sleep until at least midnight...nevertheless, even lying in bed reading is better than staring at the computer screen.

A quick note: Firefox has a wonderful (though questionable) add-on that lets you download streamed content. So if you're listening to, say, Seeqpod, and you want to get a track that you could burn to CD, or listen to without internet access at places like the airport, the add-on lets you do that. Beautiful...

Here We Go Again

Spring semester is just around the corner here at Colby, after the break we're in now ends. Yes, we have a week long break right now. After the month of one class a day. It's just crazy, isn't it? But soon all that will be at an end, and regular classes will start up again. For me it'll be more of the same: chemistry, biology, calculus and Italian. Two lab sciences isn't necessarily fun, but it can certainly be done. I'll be in class for most of the day Mondays and Wednesdays, but Tuesdays and Thursdays will be light.

Applications to continue the radio show through spring semester are in, and although the time slot may change from the most excellent one we had in January, the only thing that matters to me is keeping the show. Broomball starts up again in a week, and hopefully I'll be able to get someone with a camera to film one of the games. Fun fun...just in time for my bruises to heal, it's time to get some more.

The temperature just climbed about freezing here in Waterville, which will hopefully take care of some of the ice that is practically everywhere - the ground, the trees, the lake...freezing rain Friday night pretty much killed the weekend, because trying to go out is almost not worth it for fear of falling.

The Superbowl is later today, as you almost certainly already know, and for those of you who know where my allegiance lies (if you've been reading, you know), please refrain from nasty comments about the actual likelihood of winning. Anything is possible, as the dream team Pats have shown us, and the Giants have been playing amazingly well the past few weeks. Mission: get to Brady, twist his other ankle, and knock him out of the game. Nothing is sweeter than the Red Sox winning the World Series...unless the Giants were to win the Superbowl and make it a double victory. Go Giants!

You know you're bored when...

Today was quite possibly the most boring day I've ever had at Colby. It's a Monday, which automatically makes it bad, but it's also the second to last day that students are allowed to be on campus. The college is virtually empty - of around 2000 students, I estimate about 200 or less to still be on campus. Aside from the friend I'll be riding to Portland with tomorrow, there are about ten people I actually know left here. That being said, I spent the day (since I woke up at 10) on my computer. Aside from lunch (ate alone), saying goodbye to the last few stragglers I know leaving today, making popcorn, and dinner (with a friend), I've been holed up in my room listening to the local classic rock station and playing various computer games. I even sunk so low as to try the Survivor computer game Austin loaned me. I gave that up after I got voted out in the third tribal council. (Austin, by the way, is the resident reality show fanatic. He's currently hosting the campus Survivor game I think I mentioned in a post last month. I'm participating, so I can't tell you what's going on. You'll have to wait for it to all come out on Youtube.)

Other than computer games, I spent about ten minutes packing for the trip tomorrow. How did I make my packing time that short? Easy. I simply shook out the contents of my laundry basket over my empty bag. I'll be doing a rather large load of laundry on Wednesday.

I was just reminded of my love for the Sox...if you're a Red Sox fan, check this site out.

Because I'm feeling random: the song I'm currently listening to? The Grand Duel, Parte Prima, from Kill Bill. Thanks to Seeqpod and Mr. Dusch for the tunes. Next up on the playlist is the theme from Jurassic Park. I do so love John Williams. After that, I'm thinking the theme from Shaft.

While you're at it, check out this video. And this one. And finally, this one. No, I'm not going to embed them. I'm too lazy right now to do that.

Now for some Allman brothers...then House of the Rising Sun. And then possibly a movie...either Airplane or Munich. They're very, very different. I'm not sure. I watched Saving Private Ryan and Miracle last night with a few friends, but they're all gone now. I'm not sure if I'm up to watching Munich alone...I might have to move away from the window.

For now, goodnight. I'll probably post again when I'm sitting in the Portland Jetport for hours and hours tomorrow. I need to find some headphones.

More Snow Photos...can't get enough

There is joy

Snow snow snow snow
Snow snow snow snow
Lovely snow! Wonderful snow!
Snow snow snow snow...etc

It's finally decided to be winter here in Maine (or at least the nice part of winter, with pretty snow to accompany the bitter cold). So far there's about four inches on the ground, with another six or so predicted to fall. Two of my four classes today were canceled. Unfortunately, I still have a chem exam at 5:30. Studying commences...now!

You know, just because

It'd be nice if my dorm room was warmer than 50 degrees all the time. I have found that shivering is not conducive to doing work. I'm wearing my coat all the time, and I try as much as possible to work in places where their heaters either a.) work, or b.) are not counteracted upon by a large window that serves to suck all the warmth out of the room.

Cold is good. I like cold. Walked four miles to and from Wal-mart yesterday in the sub freezing weather. I can deal with cold in places where I should have to. But is my room really one of those places? Is it really necessary that I should have trouble bending my fingers after spending an hour working at my desk? Note to self: space heater. Yesterday I had boiling tea in the morning to help me wake up/warm me up. I left it sitting for ten minutes while I write some emails. I then take a sip - cold as ice. It's currently about 20 degrees outside. That's fine. I'm inside. Unfortunately, inside is about 45 degrees. That's just not cool.

I don't want to whine too long...you get it, I'm cold. Get over it, I will be told, I who willingly went to the frozen north, submitting myself to four years of snow and temperatures better dealt with by running south. On a lighter, brighter note, some amount of snow will fall tonight and tomorrow. Projected accumulation is anywhere from six to twenty inches. Did I hear somebody say snowball fight?

I'm going to go stick my fingers in the microwave to warm them up. Until I write again, Ciao!

To whom it may concern

I'm running low on things to blog about, so today you get to hear about the weather. It was supposed to snow today...but it was more like freezing rain that just reminded everybody that November is depressing. I'm reminded of the other day's Harry Bliss cartoon: "Hear that sound? That's the sound of four months of winter depression."

Honestly, I love the winter. I don't mind the cold, the wind, even the sun setting at four thirty. But I would like to get some snow. The "wintry mix" stuff doesn't really cut it for me.